RAIPUR: The Chhattisgarh High Court after hearing the petition filed by the state government on Antagarh bypoll tape scam has served notices to all the accused to respond within three weeks on their opinion regarding giving their voice samples to the special investigation (SIT) team.
The court has asked former chief minister Ajit Jogi, his son Amit, then Congress candidate Manturam Pawar and Dr. Puneet Gupta—son in law of ex-CM Raman Singh to reply within 3 weeks in response to the petition.
The Raipur court had earlier rejected the SIT's plea on seeking the voice samples of the key accused. After none of them turned up to the SIT’s summon to get their voices recorded in June this year, the investigating agency approached the court.
The then Congress candidate Manturam Pawar had abruptly withdrawn his name from the by-election and the BJP won the polls.
In the Antagarh tape scam, there were conversations among the accused purportedly heard on a deal to fix the by-elections. Then Pawar was allegedly given Rs 7 crore to withdraw from the fray.